AnsoticcA is a young band from Berlin is making the first step into the spotlight with Rise.
The opener A New Dawn is a symphonic intro which takes you into Rise. Endless Sacrifice is based on heavy riffs, then Carie van Heden joins in and her vocals take off a the aggressive edge. The fivesome offer symphonic gothic metal, but at the first song they are heavier then bands like After Forever, Delain or Within Temptation. So there are some male growls, but that doesn't make them sound like Epica. More melodic and less heavy is Heaven Burns, but the keyboard / programming gives the song the gothic feel. Partly Carie's vocals are a bit too low in the mix, so that she can hardly stand her ground against her mates on the instruments here. Slowly they head into the title track Rise, Carie takes the spotlight while the guys support her at the balladesque opening, then they go full force and again Carie's vocals seem to get a bit lost in the symphonic sounds. At the end of the song they return to the opening theme for a short time. A symphonic metal anthem is I'm Alive, no surprise they choose this one for a video. Watch the video to get an idea about AnsoticcA!
With Faces (On Fire) they offer a fast, heavy tune, but it also has some slow passages. A catchy refrain makes this one memorable. They ease off a bit for the symphonic rocker Open Your Eyes, a mid-paced tune with slow passages where Carie is supported mainly by Maarten De Vries' keyboard. A dark symphonic track is Tears Of A Clown which is riff-based and offers some tempo changes. One of the highlights of Rise. Another guitar-driven track is Open The Gates where some thrashy riffs were combined with bombastic keyboard lines, again they add slower, reduced passages. But at Open The Gates they change the formula a bit - and that's good, coz it adds some variety to the sound of AnsoticcA. With Willing To Believe you get a balladesque track and here Carie can shine, towards the end it becomes more powerful... A melodic power metal tune. At Weight Of The World they cite some classic tune at the opening part, then head into a riff-based up-tempo tune with symphonic elements. And here the male vocals are back. Somehow this song sounds familiar... And unfinished, too much they stick to genre colleagues - and that blurs the good impression they made so far. Perhaps that's an early track by them....
Anyway, Rise is a decent album which mostly stays away from the typical genre bands. Some songs stick out, but in it's wholeness the songs are too much alike. But this is a debut and one which is done by the band on their own. So even if not everything is the way it should be, it's a good album which fans of symphonic gothic metal should check out!
